The McNulty's
by breemalio
Summary: Bud and Nora never really planned on it. They never planned on having as many kids as Nora's parents, but with 10 kids, they were up there.


Disclaimer: I don't own 'Cheaper by the Dozen' or 'Cheaper by the Dozen 2'

A/N: Just something that has been stuck in my mind. Enjoy!

* * *

Bud and Nora never really planned on it. They never planned on having as many kids as Nora's parents, but with 10 kids, they were up there.

It all started with Tom, 17. Carbon-copy of his father with his looks and his always-positive attitude.

Then there was Nathan, 16. More like his mother, that one.

And the first girl, Emily, 14. So much like her father.

The twins, Logan and Lily, 11. They gave Bud and Nora a lot to be worried about with their antics.

Brandon, 9, who couldn't stop playing sports to pay attention to anything else.

Gracie, 8, total daddy's girl. She had him wrapped around her little finger.

6 year-old, Mia, the mischievous. At least, that was what the family called her.

Samuel, 4. Good kid that was certainly going places.

And lastly, Benjamin. Shyer and quieter than the rest, but quite smart for his age of 2.

The McNulty's.

* * *

Tom went rushing into the living room, searching for the papers he so desperately needed. "Mom! I can't find my paper!"

Nora came into the living room just as fast as Tom did, searching for the paper all of three seconds before finding it and handing it to her son. "Here it is."

Tom sighed and smiled. "Thanks, mom." He turned and almost ran into one of his nine siblings. "Careful, Em."

Emily quickly apologized, swerving around Tom and to her mother. "Mom, I need you to sign this slip for my field trip."

Nora nodded, searching the cluttered table for a pen, any pen. When she found one, she smiled triumphantly, happy to find a pen in the heap of mess. "Got it!"

There was loud yelling coming down the hall and Logan and Lily piled into the living room, tossing a football around.

"Hey!" Their mother scolded. "Logan, Lily, you guys have to be ready for school in-" Nora looked down at the watch that wasn't on her wrist and sighed heavily.

"Thirty-minutes, mom." Emily informed her.

"Thirty-minutes!" Nora yelled at the twins. The twins nodded, running out of the room.

"Mom," Emily said anxiously. "Can you sign the slip?"

"Right," Nora said, skimming through the slip and skipping most of it to just sign the thing. "Here," She said, handing it back to Emily.

"Thank you!" Emily said graciously and started running out of the room before turning back. "Don't forget that I have soccer practice after school."

Nora nodded. "Right. Soccer practice, got it."

Not a second after Emily left, Logan and Lily came running in again, still playing with a football. This time, with Brandon chasing after them.

"Mom!" Brandon yelled. "Logan and Lily took my football again."

Nora leaned through the doorway after the kids. "Sharing is caring!"

Bud came running after Logan, Lily and Brandon, yelling the same thing Nora just did while trying to tie his tie.

"Nathan!" Bud looked up and yelled into the house. "Nathan, do you have Ben?"

Nathan appeared at the top of the stairs, holding Ben by the hand. "Got him!"

"Good." Bud gave him a thumbs up. "Can you get him down here, please?"

"Sure thing." Nathan nodded, almost losing his balance by the six-year old who wouldn't keep still. "Mia!"

Mia giggled, running past her brothers and down the stairs, wrapped up in toilet paper.

"Mia!"

"Mia!"

Both Nora and Bud yelled at the girl.

Gracie came down the stairs, pig-tails bouncing in her pretty, pink dress. "Morning!" She said, skipping to the kitchen.

"Morning, honey," Nora said, feeling like she was catching a break. That could never last long, though.

"Mom!" Samuel yelled excitedly, entering the living room. "I found this in the backyard!"

It was a frog. A green and slimy frog.

"That's...great, honey." Nora smiled.

"Can I keep it?"

"Ask your dad."

Samuel turned and rushed down the hallway, running to Bud. "Dad! I found and frog. Can I keep it?"

Bud looked at the frog nervously. "Ask your mom."

Samuel sighed and turned back around, only to see that his mom was pre-occupied with the twins and trying to keep them from fighting each other.

Samuel shrugged and ran upstairs, ready to set up a little home for his pet.

Meanwhile, downstairs the kids were finishing up breakfast and squeezing through the foyer of the house to get their coats on.

"Okay!" Nora clapped loudly. "Everyone's got their lunches?"

"Yeah!" Everyone said loudly.

"Homework?"

"Yeah!"

"Anything else I'm missing?"

"No!"

"Perfect!" Nora sighed.

Bud came running through, kissing his wife and telling her he loved her, rubbing all the kids heads and running through the front door.

"Bye kids! Have a hard day at school and try good!" Bud said so quickly, his words jumbled together clumsily.

Emily laughed. "You mean have a-"

"Yeah, yeah." Bud waved his daughter off. "Love you all!" He said finally, slamming the door on his way out.

"Bye, mom." Tom waved.

Nathan was next. "Later, mom!"

"Soccer practice, mom. Don't forget," Emily reminded Nora, who had already forgotten. "I love you, bye!" She ran out the door after Nathan.

Logan and Lily gave each other one last shove before turning to Nora and saying their goodbyes, only to fight on their way out the door.

"Big game tomorrow, mom!" Brandon said, walking out the door. "Write it on the calendar!"

"Bye, mom." Gracie hugged her mom's side and turning to her little sister, holding out her hand. "C'mon, Mia."

Mia took Gracie's hand and waved to Nora. "Bye, mommy!" Mia also waved to her little brother, Ben, on the floor before leaving and closing the door behind her.

Nora sighed. "Bye." Nora just about turned around before she heard a 'ribbit' as a frog jumped between her legs.

"Froggy!" Samuel came rushing and leaned down on the floor, picking up his frog in his hands. "Sorry, mom," Sam said sheepishly.

"That's alright, sweetheart." Nora smiled, rubbing Samuel's brown locks and patting his back. "Why don't you go play outside?"

Samuel smiled and nodded eagerly, putting on his shoes and running outside, frog in hand.

Nora looked down at her youngest, Benjamin, raising her eyebrows at his adorable face. "What was I supposed to remember?"

Ben giggled.

* * *

A/N: Just a little something I wanted to write after watching both 'Cheaper by the Dozen's. Hope you enjoyed!

"Mom, dad?" Emily said, opening the door to their bedroom.

Nora was in front of the mirror, fixing her hair. Bud was in front of his mirror, trying to fix his tie.

Bud gave his daughter a glance over his shoulder. "Hey, honey."

"Hey, uh, can I have a friend over?"

Nora looked at Emily through the mirror. "That's fine, Em. But no sleepover's. It's a school night."

Bud nodded. "And just because you have a friend over, doesn't mean you don't have to do your chores."

"And you still have to help out with your brothers and sisters."

"And Tom's in charger, so whatever he says, goes."

Emily smiled. "Got it."

"Note's on the fridge in case you forget anything."

"Got it, mom."

"And dinner just needs to be heated up." Bud pointed at his daughter. "I don't want you cooking because of what happened last time."

Emily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I got it, dad. Get out of here and enjoy your guys's date night."

Both parents sighed and turned towards each other, then to Emily, kissing her cheeks and saying goodbye.

...

The doorbell rang and Tom walked downstairs and opened the door.

Tom turned to the boy at the door. "Uh, hey."

"Hey, I'm here for Emily."

Tom's brows furrowed. "Are you sure?" His sister didn't have friends over and she didn't have any male friends-at least, none that he knew of. "Emily McNulty?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah."

"Don't get it! I got it! Don't get it!" Emily yelled, rushing down the stairs.

Too late.

Emily just missed crashing into the door and popped in front of Tom, pushing him out of the way a little and smiling widely. "Hi, Chad."

Tom shook his head from his hidden spot behind the door, nudging his sister and whispering, "Chad?"

Emily gave him a look. "Go away, Tom." Then turned back to Chad at the door with a smile. "Come in."

Chad smiled back and walked inside.

"My room's upstairs." Emma started to walk with Chad to her room, but Tom stopped her.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

Emily sighed, telling Chad to go upstairs and wait for her, while Tom talked to Emily.

"Who is this guy?"

"He's a friend."

"Do mom and dad know that you have a boy over?" Tom put his hands on his hips.

"Yes..." Emily nodded unsurely. "I mean, they know I have a _friend_ over." Emily sighed. "Look, nothing weird will happen, but if you could do me a favour, that would be awesome."

Tom hesitated. "Okay..."

"Keep everyone away from my room."

"Okay." Tom nodded and Emily started to walk upstairs but Tom pointed a finger at her. "But your door stays open."

Emily gave her brother a thumbs up. "You got it."

...

Emily and Chad leaned back on her bed as they fell into an awkward silence.

After talking for what seemed like a life time, Emily grew slightly bored and she worried that maybe Chad had too. So Emily had to ask that really awkward question.

"So...what do you want to do?"

Chad shrugged. "We could watch a movie."

Emily's heart dropped. The only TV in the house was downstairs and all her siblings were downstairs. "Yeah."

"Let's go, then." Chad stood.

"Right." Emily smiled. "Let's, uh, go, then."

Chad walked confidently down the stairs with Emily trailing nervously behind him.

When they got downstairs, all eyes were on them. All eighteen eyes.

"Um, hey, guys." Emily stepped in front of Chad. "Time to go upstairs."

"Who's that?" Nathan said.

"Yeah, who's that, Em?" Brandon asked.

"He's cute!" Gracie mentioned.

Little Ben made a noise of excitement.

"Hey, everyone. My name's Chad." Chad waved.

"Hi, Chad." The whole family said at the same time.

Chad smiled and waved. "Hey."

"Okay!" Emily clapped. "Up and Adam, guys. Upstairs, please. Chad and I are going to use the TV."

Nathan smirked. "What if I want to use to TV?"

Tom stood, taking Ben in his arms. "C'mon, guys, listen to Emily just this once."

"Fine." Brandon and Nathan both groaned, standing and walking to the stairs.

Gracie skipped over to Chad. "Hi, Chad. My name's Gracie and I think you're cute."

Chad smiled. "Well, I think you're cute, too, Gracie."

Gracie blushed, running past Chad and Emily to go upstairs.

Samuel got up and walked over to Emily, telling her quietly to have fun.

"Thanks, Sammy." Emily hugged Sam to her side. Out of everyone, Sam might've been her favourite sibling.

Tom came over to Chad and Emily, still with Ben in his arms. "Have fun."

Emily sighed. "Thank you, Tom."

Tom nodded and started to walk away, but turned back quickly. "Not too much fun. Seriously, Chad, Emily, I'm not getting grounded for you two."

"You got, Tom." Emily agreed and almost walked into the living room before realizing that three major pranksters weren't checked off the list of people that were definitely upstairs. "Tom, wait. Where's Mia, Logan and Lily?"

Tom looked around nervously. "Somewhere down here." Then he shrugged. "I'm sure you guys will be...I'm sure it'll be...fine." Tom ran upstairs quickly, not wanting to deal with his younger siblings.

Emily sighed, turning to Chad. "Just keep your eyes peeled for two eleven-year-old's and one six-year-old.

Chad laughed nervously. "Are they going to hurt me or something?"

Emily hesitated. "Probably not." She grabbed Chad's hand before he could say anything else.

...

Emily blushed when she heard Chad fake yawn, knowing exactly what he had on his mind. When Chad's arm came around Emily, she scooted closer to him subtly.

"Hey, guys!" Nathan jumped over to couch, making Emily and Chad shoot apart as Nathan settled in between them. "What're we watching?"

"Nathan," Emily warned.

"What?" Nathan said innocently. "Just want to watch a movie with my sister and her...friend. Nathan, by the way."

Chad nodded. "I know. I was in your gym class."

"Oh, well-"

"Ah!"

There was a smash.

Nathan sat up. "What the..."

Tom appeared at the top of the stairs. "What just happened?"

Logan and Lily came running out of the kitchen, each one pointing at the other.

"She did it!"

"He did it!"

"Logan!" Tom yelled, stomping down the stairs. "Lily!"

Logan and Lily both ran through the living room. Nathan got up and tried to catch them, along with Tom.

Then Mia came running into the house from outside, covered in mud.

"Mia!" Emily stood up and ran after her. Or she tried and ending up slipping on Mia's muddy footprints. "Ow," Emily whined, grabbing at her bottom.

"Emily, are you okay?" Chad bent down the Emily's level.

Emily nodded. "Yeah," She said, taking Chad's hand and standing up. "Thanks."

Chad flashed his perfect smile. "No problem."

Emily shut her eyes tightly for a second. "Ten seconds of courage."

"Wha-"

Emily leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. Chad didn't even have time to kiss back before Emily pulled away.

"Sorry." Emily blushed.

"No." Chad smiled and shook his head. "That's okay."

They were just looking at each other until they heard a loud yell. It was Mia, running at them, still covered in mud. Mia ran right into both of them, sending them to the ground. Then Mia ran past Chad and Emily, going back outside.

"Oh, my god," Chad groaned.

When Emily realized she was on top of Chad, she rolled off of him, feeling like she was going to cry. "I'm so sorry."

"What?" Chad breathed out. "For what?"

"My family." Emily started to get up. "I'm sorry that we're not normal and this couldn't be a normal hangout with normal people and that you couldn't have a good, normal time!"

Chad laughed. "I have one brother, Emily. My family is way too normal. I could use a little crazy in my life."

Emily blushed, not being able to stop the smile coming onto her face. "Really?"

"Really." Chad stepped forward, kissing Emily slowly, enjoying the fact that he actually got to kiss her that time.

"Well, well, well."

Emily and Chad pulled away from each other to see Nathan standing with his arms crossed.

"Nathan." Emily tried to fend him off.

Nathan just smiled and walked over to Chad, slapping a hand down on his shoulder. "Welcome to the McNulty family, man."

Logan, Lily and Mia all ran past screaming, Tom trying to catch them at that moment.

Nathan clicked his tongue, slipping away. "And good luck."


End file.
